ITINERARY

The project

Go from the Atlantic to France, cross all of Eurasia and reach Kamchatka on the Pacific coast of the Russian Federation and then return.

Over 25,000 km in 3 years with 2 saddle mules and 2 pack mules.

The departure is scheduled for spring 2022.

An adventure: through 13 or 14 countries, we will be confronted with geography, climatic conditions, good or bad encounters. There will be choices to be made, risks to be taken, hardships to face, joys to be experienced, surprises to spice up the trip.

A sporting event: even if our goal is not to accomplish a sporting feat, the trip will require us to be in good physical condition over time. However, we will challenge ourselves at the end with our return Turmene style riding.

A human story: meeting people, showing tenacity, courage.

3 travel styles :

Mules saddled up to the Pacific:
From Saint Jean de Luz, we will cross France, then the Alps to Italy, pass through Slovenia, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria. We will then cross the Black Sea to reach Russia.

The journey will continue in Russia to the north and then east. We will then cross the North of Kazakhstan. One possibility here is to harness the mules to a cart to be more autonomous in fodder and water on this desert part. It will also allow us to go a little faster. We will enter Russia again just before the Saïan Mountains. Lake Baikal is then an essential stage.

We will continue to Yakutia and Magadan where we will take a ferry to Kamchatka that we will cross before taking a ferry back to Vladivostok.
If there is no way to find a boat, we will cross the frozen Lake Baikal (possibly with sleds to increase our forage autonomy) and then head east directly to Sovietskaya Gavan or Vladivostok.

By train by the Trans-Siberian:
From Vladivostok, the return trip will be by Trans-Siberian to Moscow.

ʺTurkmene style" from Moscow at home:
Then “Turkmene style riding” through Russia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Czechia, Germany and France.

ʺTurkmene style ridingʺ :

Turkmen-style riding was invented by the rider peoples of the steppes of Asia, on their Akhal-Teke horses. This raid riding consists of moving over long distances with two horses per rider, the latter riding sometimes one, sometimes the other, leading the recovering horse, without any harness other than its halter.
"The enemy of the horse is not the kilometers, it is the kilograms," said Jean-Louis Gouraud, who covered the 3,333 km between Paris and Moscow in 75 days with 2 French trotters. Without a load, the horse recovers much better and most importantly, does not get tired while the other is ridden.

© Philippe Meyrier

Mikhail Vasilyevich Aseev. “In 1889 Aseev traveled from Kiev (then Russia) to Paris (France) riding Turkmene style at an average of 100 kilometers per day with two cavalry mares.